The Christmas Intervention
by Ari Moriarty
Summary: Holiday fluff in honor of my favorite writers! Ari is desperately trying to finish her incredibly long story, but people keep dropping by to visit! Her house soon turns into an impromptu Christmas party, complete with our favorite characters from Persona, and a few of our favorite fanfiction writers as well! Warning: This is pointless self-insertion fluff.


**Author's Note: **This is just a little derpy something for my favorite fanfic readers and authors. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the **Dreamgirl** series.

Important to note; the Daisuke in this story is a friend of mine. He is not Daisuke Nagase from Persona 4.

I have been trying to get onto this site ALL DAY, but it wouldn't let me post! I really wanted to post this story in time for Christmas...so here goes!

**The Christmas Intervention**

A Holiday Story by Ari Moriarty

It was eight o'clock in the morning on Christmas Day, 2013, and Ari Moriarty was still awake. I say still awake, because she had not slept or even been to bed for longer than two hours in at least three days, desperate as she was to finish the conclusion of the fan fiction epic which she'd been working to its climax for weeks.

Unfortunately, the work was getting harder and harder as she went along. Sleep deprived and extremely hungry, Ari was beginning to run out of steam. She opened her battered notebook full of notes and outlines, and started up a new word document at the same time, poising her fingers over the keyboard and preparing to write.

It was no use. Nothing came. She was out of ideas, exhausted, and beginning to see double. She yawned epically.

Just as her eyes were beginning to close and her overtaxed body began to shut down, there was a knock on the door.

"Ack." Ari shook herself awake again. "Really? But it's Christmas day, and all the buses are shut down for the holiday. Who could possibly be here now?"

Somehow, she got to her feet and stumbled to the door. There were four people waiting for her outside, kicking their feet around in the remains of the snow on the ground. Adam and Rise were all bundled up for the cold weather, and while Rise looked pert and perky as usual, Adam had big, dark circles under his eyes. _He's' been up late doing schoolwork again, _thought Ari. _That first year of college really can be a killer….and besides, he's got all those stories he's' working on! _

Elisabeth waved cheerfully, She was gazing around at the snowy scenery, and Ari could just imagine her coming up with some of her trademark, inexplicably beautiful lines in her mind. She had a poet's look in her eye, the kind of look that people get when words are beginning to take shape in their heads. Beside her, Yosuke, who appeared to have been holding her hand, dropped it abruptly as soon as he realized that Ari had noticed.

"Um...hello," muttered Ari.

"Merry Christmas!" Elisabeth beamed at her, and Yosuke grinned in agreement.

"Merry Christmas…or, happy holidays. Wait, you're Jewish, right?" Adam frowned, apparently unable to remember.

"Who cares?" Rise shrugged. "Holidays don't have to be religious or anything. They're just fun! Ooh it's so cold out here, though…"

Before Ari had a chance to invite her in, Rise ran past her into the warm house. Shooting Ari an apologetic look, Adam strode in after her, followed quickly by Elisabeth and Yosuke.

Ari herself was just turning around to head back inside after them when someone cleared his throat behind her, and she turned to find yet another set of holiday visitors waiting just a few steps from her front stoop. Meia and Chie, both dressed in workout wear, smiled and waved.

"Merry Christmas!" cried Chie. "Um, hey, are we bothering you? We were just out for a run…you know, training! It got so cold, though. Is it…okay if we come in?"

"Sorry," muttered Meia, giving Chie an amused sort of look. "If you don't mind too much…"

"Um…right. Sure. Why not?" _At least these two will keep the others company so that I can get back to my work, _decided Ari. "Yeah. My pleasure, come on in."

Chie beamed at her. "Thanks!" She ran into the house, and Meia, at a slightly more dignified pace, went in after her.

_Right, _thought Ari, thinking of the two boxes of ramen and the half-empty water filter in her fridge. _I sure hope that nobody's hungry. I have no idea what I'm going to feed these people. Come to think of it, I have no idea what I'm going to feed ME. _She was just considering walking over to the local grocery store when four more people came around the corner, headed straight for Ari's front door.

Kira had arrived, chatting animatedly with Makoto, and close on their heels were Daisuke and Mitsuru. As the four of them turned the corner, they caught sight of each other, and Mitsuru nodded to Makoto, who suddenly looked slightly uncomfortable. He glanced at Kira, who shrugged. Mitsuru raised an eyebrow at him, reached out, and flicked a speck of snow off of his coat sleeve.

"Excuse me," murmured Mitsuru, inclining her head as she approached the doorway. "This is a little forward of us, but we've come to pay you a Christmas visit. I sent a card, of course, but it is…possible that I mistook your address, and I wouldn't want you to think that we'd forgotten about you during the holiday season."

"Merry Christmas!" added Kira. "Oh, wow, look at all those people. Are you having a party?"

_I didn't think I was having a party, _thought Ari, somewhat dazedly. "Uh, please, come in," she mumbled. "Yeah, I…I do seem to have a lot of guests, today."

Kira and Makoto continued on into the house. Daisuke lingered outside, looking vaguely amused at the situation, Ari's discomfort, or some combination of the two. Eventually, Mitsuru gently cleared her throat, and extended an arm. He allowed her to escort him, or maybe she allowed him to escort her into the party.

_Yep, _decided Ari. _Definitely am gonna have to go to the grocery store. Or, uh, maybe I should order a pizza? Yeah, pizza sounds really good right now. No, wait, does anyone actually deliver in Christmas? I guess I can call ahead and find out? Seriously, don't all these people have something better to do today? You know, celebrating with family, opening presents…there' s nothing fun or interesting at my house. All I've got is an empty fridge, a bunch of notebooks, and a story that I really NEED to finish, which won't be easy with all these people around._

"Ari! Happy Christmas!" Christine came running up the street, dragging Nanako along by the hand. Behind her, Charles and Yukiko were dawdling along together, arm in arm. Charles leaned in to whisper something in Yukiko's ear, and Yukiko blushed a very pretty shade of red.

"Merry Christmas, Ari." Charles bowed in that slightly formal, endearing way that he had. Nanako's eyes had already gone wide as saucers as she stared through the open door at the people clustering inside the house.

"Oooh, a party!" Nanako bounced up and down.

"By all means," muttered Ari, "come inside. Please. Uh, Merry Christmas to all of you, as well."

Yukiko and Charles, still cuddling close, made their way into the house. As Nanako pulled Christine inside, Ari was sure that she saw something that looked like hair or fur clinging to Christine's coat. _And what, _she wondered, _are those marks on her sleeve? Are those teeth marks? They're HUGE! They look kinda like a bear has been chewing on her sleeve…what the hell is up with that? _

That appeared to be everyone. As far as Ari could tell, the coast was clear. She hurried into the house, closed the door with a decisive slam, and turned to face her guests.

"Look, guys," she began. "Thank you so much for coming to see me, and for all of the holiday wishes. It's super sweet of you and I really appreciate. Its just…I have to get back to writing my story."

Unfortunately, Ari's stomach chose that moment to growl ferociously, not unlike the bear that she imagined had been chewing on Christine's arm.

"Oh, are you hungry?" Chie snapped her fingers. "I have just the thing. Hey, Meia, where'd you put that stuff we brought?"

Dutifully, Meia produced a plate of what looked like little tiny chunks of meat wrapped in pancakes. "They're steak bites!" announced Chie proudly. "Oh, and there's some bread in there too, but more importantly, STEAK!"

Ari eyed the steak bites dubiously. "Did you…make these?" she asked.

Chie's face fell, and Meia chuckled "Actually, no…I did."

_Oh, thank god, _thought Ari. _Him, at least, I feel like I can trust. I mean, anybody who really wants to go to nursing school has got to be decent at preparing things and putting ingredients together. At least, I think that's true. He wouldn't make me something dangerous, right? _

"I brought something, too!" Yukiko displayed a plate full of lumpy looking cookies. "Um…I made them myself. The waitresses at the inn insisted on helping me pick the ingredients, but I wouldn't let them do any of the cooking. I wanted you to have something special for Christmas. Go on, try one!"

Ari was not at all sure she wanted to try one. The cookies were all sorts of strange shapes, and they had little pieces of something sticking out of them. Whatever substance was in those cookies, it did not look at all like chocolate chips. Ari was concerned that she might find something like fish heads or asparagus sprouts in the middle of them.

Charles, however, didn't seem daunted at all. He took one of the cookies off the plate, beamed lovingly at Yukiko, and popped the whole thing into his mouth at once. His face blanched, turned almost green, and then he somehow managed to swallow. "They're perfect," he spluttered.

_The things we do for love, _thought Ari, hiding a smile.

"Um…Miss Moriarty? I brought you something, too." Nanako held out one single, extremely misshapen dark brown thing that may have been some sort of horribly deformed brownie, maybe.

Ari raised an eyebrow at Christine, who shrugged helplessly, but didn't look too put out. _She's always so pleasant and sunny, _thought Ari. _Actually, I think she makes a great role model for Nanako. _

"I didn't make these," Christine admitted, handing over a small tray full of what looked like little cakes. "Honestly, I bought them from the bakery down the street back home. I know you really like London, so…I thought I'd bring you these tea cakes. This is the kind of thing that Sherlock Holmes might have eaten, right?"

The teacakes, at least, looked delicious. Ari gave Christine the grateful smile of a starving woman, and Christine looked genuinely pleased.

"Hey, Ari!" Adam was waving to her from across the room. "What's all this stuff?" He seemed to have found the collection of notebooks that was piled up on the floor next to her writing desk.

Ari rushed over to get in between him and the notebooks. "Oh, uh, that's nothing! Just, you know, a bunch of little story ideas and snippets, in case I get bored or run into writers block. Nothing you'd want to see in those notebooks, haha…"

"Writer's block?" Adam frowned. "Yeah, that does happen to you a lot, doesn't it? Weren't we supposed to write a holiday story together this year?"

Ari flinched. "Yes…and that never happened because…I forgot. And you're too wonderful and patient to have bugged me about it. Uh…sorry. It's totally my fault."

Adam shrugged. "Nah, it's fine. I have enough to work on right now, anyway. Oh, but you know what might be a cool idea? There's this one pairing I really like. What do you think about pairing Yukiko and Mitsuru together?"

Yukiko and Mitsuru were, at that moment, chatting together over by the fireplace. They both glanced up in surprise when Adam spoke, and then looked at each other, as though sizing each other up. This time, it was Mitsuru's turn to blush.

_And speaking of pairings, _thought Ari, _look who's under the mistletoe? _

Elisabeth and Yosuke seemed to have found themselves in the general vicinity of the mistletoe. They were still awkwardly holding hands, and as they drifted closer together, Ari was sure that she heard Yosuke mutter something under his breath that sounded like, "Uh, thought you were into Naoto."

Elisabeth stared at him. "Wh-what?"

"Nothing. It's nothing, forget I said anything." Yosuke shook his head, backtracking rapidly.

Makoto and Kira were in the corner of the room, and Kira, too, seemed to be shaking her head as Makoto leaned in closer. "No, I can't," she was saying apologetically. "I really can't. It's just…you're destined to be with Minako. I just know it. It's my OTP!"

"Who's Minako?" asked Makoto.

Slipping hurriedly away from him, Kira rushed over to Ari, who was now standing in the center of the room with a bemused expression on her face. "Um, Ari! I brought you something! It's a picture I drew for you. This is Nanako's persona from your most recent story. Do you like it?"

"I love it!" Ari grinned with delight. "Thank you so much! You're an excellent artist, Kira. I should visit your gallery more often."

"Um, and this is from me." Elisabeth, too, handed Ari a drawing. Elisabeth's drawing was of Junpei, which Ari knew was a favorite character of both Elisabeth and herself.

Ari smiled. "It's perfect! I'll put it up on my wall right away, right next to that fantastic picture you sent me last year! This was really kind of you. Thank you so much!"

"And, wait, there's one more!" Kira pulled yet one more drawing out of her bag. This one was attached to a note. "It's from Yuruya. She couldn't be here today because she's so busy with schoolwork, but she sends her love."

Yuruya's drawing was a magnificent color picture of Adachi and Minako, and Ari briefly wondered if maybe she should let Kira keep the picture, so that Kira could show Minato who Minako was.

Kira must have seen the look in Ari's eye, because she sighed. "I've already tried," she confessed.

There were now several couples all vying for place beneath the one tiny sprig of mistletoe in the center of the room. Yukiko and Charles were happily making out as though no one was watching, and Mitsuru even deigned to give Daisuke a quick kiss on the cheek. He grinned at her, and Ari wondered what kind of dirty thoughts he was having in that delightful but slightly twisted head of his.

Meia and Chie had drifted in the general direction of the mistletoe, but Chie seemed uncharacteristically shy. "Um…" she muttered, clasping and unclasping her hands behind her back and shooting occasional glances over at Meia. Ari decided that it was rude to watch them in the midst of their little moment, and turned away.

Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, either with friends or with crushes. Ari sighed. Her computer and her notebooks were calling to her from across from the room, and it was looking more and more like very little was actually going to get done today.

_I have to finish today, _she told herself. _It's in my schedule. I must keep to my schedule. _

"Huh? What's up?" Adam walked over. "You look upset."

"Why aren't you enjoying the party with the rest of us?" asked Christine, strolling over from the table where Nanako had begun diligently laying out the mostly inedible snacks.

Ari shook her head. "I really need to get back to work," she insisted. "This story isn't going to right itself, and there's my updating schedule to keep…"

Adam threw a companionable arm around Ari's shoulders. "Look, sometimes, real life gets in the way. You have to put your real life first, okay? Don't overdo it! Take a few days to think about it, maybe. Otherwise you'll start hating your own work again, like that one time."

"He's right," agreed Christine, nodding enthusiastically. "Besides, today is Christmas! Spend some time hanging out with us. It'll be fun! It's good to keep a schedule, but you have to have fun, too! You know, and have reasonable expectations?"

Ari looked back and forth between the faces of her two friends, and found that she didn't have a good argument for either of them. "I…I guess you're right," she said. "Yeah…um. Thanks. Thanks for coming over. Maybe this was just what I needed."

Adam and Christine nodded, looking pleased. Adam hurried over to where Elisabeth was glancing through Ari's bookshelf, and Christine went off to check on Nanako. Ari was left alone again, watching her friends enjoying themselves, and suddenly feeling a lot better about this whole Christmas thing than she'd ever done before.

"Taking a break?" asked a man's voice. Ari spun around to face Tohru Adachi, who grinned impishly at her, and pushed her back against one of the nearby walls. He leaned over her, muttering, "Well, good. I've been waiting for a chance to do this all day. Merry Christmas, Ari."

"The mistletoe is over there," she managed to say, pointing in the general direction of the fireplace.

Adachi shrugged." Yeah? Who cares?"

Behind them, someone found the radio, and some disgustingly festive holiday music began to play.

**Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year to my Fanfiction Friends! Thank you for making this year of writing, friends and fun as wonderful as it could possibly be! I'm so grateful. **

Oh, but what about the bookshelf that Elisabeth was looking at in this story? What, you ask, is on Ari's bookshelf today?

**Closing the Distance **by **EMD23**

**Please Haunt Me **by **Gin Nanashi**

**Learning to Fly ** by **Miss Hanamura**

**Happy Memories ** by **Palladion X**

**I Don't Belong Here **by **JustCharles**

**Persona 4: FES **by **Supernova23**


End file.
